Megadyne and Ammeraal Beltech appoint a joint CEO

05 September, 2018

The belt-makers Megadyne and Ammeraal Beltech have appointed a Stijn Vriends as their combined CEO. His appointment follows the recent agreement by Partners Group, the global private markets investment manager, to acquire and merge both companies to create a full-service provider of industrial transmission and lightweight conveyor belts.

Ammeraal’s former CEO, Prakash Iyengar, is leaving the business.

Vriends, a Dutch national, has lived and worked in Italy for the past 15 years. Most recently, he was for three years CEO of Faster, a Milan-based hydraulic couplings manufacturer, where he oversaw a growth strategy that led to the company being acquired by Helios Technologies.

“I am very pleased that Stijn has accepted our offer to leadMegadyne and Ammeraal Beltech and develop the combined group into a true global champion,” says Horst Heidsieck, chairman of the supervisory board. “Over the course of his extensive professional experience in both the Netherlands and Italy, he has accumulated in-depth knowledge of both working cultures and languages along with prior success in managing a private equity-owned company. All of this makes him the ideal fit for our requirements in this position.”

Pascal Noth, managing director of Partners Group and a member of the supervisory and management board, has thanked the departing Ammeraal CEO, Prakash Iyengar, saying that his three years with the business “were transformational in terms of driving margin expansion and significant profitability growth. Looking ahead, the focus for Ammeraal and Megadyne is on the growth opportunity provided by increasing automation in many industrial verticals across the world. The appointment of Stijn Vriends as CEO is the first joint step on that accelerated path to growth.”